The extreme right in Germany has so far not produced a permanently successful party. In recent years there have been spectacular individual successes by right wing formations. However, the extreme right usually fails in elections. It can also currently be observed that for the right wing party, the NPD, which is currently to be assessed as the strongest, success and failure are close to one another. The party celebrated entries into the state parliament in Saxony (2004) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (2006) were followed by sobering defeats, e.g. in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia (both in 2005) or in Hesse and Lower Saxony (both in 2008). Are there clearly identifiable regularities behind this ups and downs?